Winter Break Part 8

"I finally beat her," Lance answered, looking really depressed.

"That can't be it," Jaune shook his head.

"No, well, your mother's Semblance is special, he Aura reserves are only as big as the people that consider her family. The more that feel this way about her, the stronger she is, she told me she gets around half of their total Aura added to her own if they consider her family, twenty-five percent if they consider her a friend, however, if they die, that bonus Aura disappears."

Lance gave Jaune a serious look, "When she suddenly grew in strength, we knew that you unlocked your Aura, however, because you faked your transcripts, we couldn't use official channels to find you, and I imagine Ozpin helped hide you as well."

Jaune scratched the back of his head and laughed, "Well, he's like that, once he sees potential, he just has to help nurture it."

"I know, he helped me a lot back then too," Lance sighed.

"Anyways, so you beat mom, and what she just fell for you?" Jaune moved the conversation back on track.

Lance's shoulders fell down as he hunched over, "I made her cry."

Meanwhile, inside the house, Gwen was telling Ruby and the rest of Jaune's friends the same story.

"You cried!" Yang said thinking of the badass Gwen image in her mind shattering.

"He never considered me, family, even when he finally surpassed me, I thought he really hated me, and would leave the school now that he had accomplished his goal. That dense moron completely missed all of my advances, I could have thrown a sign that said I like you at his face and he would have cut it up thinking I was attacking him!" Gwen pouted.

"Please tell me that really happened!" Yang clenched her fist.

"Well...Ohh! Just thinking of it makes me angry, that dummy thought my love letter was a letter of Challenge! I showed up for a date, and that moron showed for war!" Gwen stomped her foot.

Yang, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ruby all chuckled, "Though the look on his face when he saw me in a dress was refreshing." Gwen blushed a bit.

"So what happened after you cried?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes.

Gwen blushed, "Well, I said some pretty mean things, and ran away."

Back with Jaune, "She said, I guess you don't need us anymore now, you must really hate me, and then she ran off; man, I felt my heart clench harder than the day my family refused to unlock my Aura, I felt like scum, real scum. I didn't hate her, I didn't consider her my friend either, she was my rival."

"So because of mom's Semblance, she thought you hated her?" Jaune shook his head.

Back with Ruby, "Yeah, I ran, I was scared to hear his answer, and that moron still didn't get the hint!"

"So what happened next?" Nora asked as she moved closer to Ruby.

"Well, Summer saw me crying, and she kind of got everyone to beat the crap out of Lance." Gwen blushed hard.

Back with Jaune, "Summer almost killed me, man I thought I had a cool Semblance, but Summer, that chick's power was downright unfair. That woman could move so fast that time slowed down around her when she moved."

Jaune smiled, "I guess you got what you deserved!"

"Yeah, Summer made sure to beat some sense into me, I guess your mom had feelings for me for some time, and I was completely oblivious to them. When Summer told me Gwen had a crush on me, I felt like bashing my head against the wall." Lance placed his palm over his face.

Jaune patted his shoulder and said, "I'd feel the same way if I was in your situation."

Back with Ruby, "My mom was awesome!"

Gwen laughed, "Well, whatever Summer said to him really put him on edge, he didn't leave school as I originally thought he would."

"I don't get what you saw in such a dense person," Weiss said shaking her head.

"Lance wasn't like that with everyone, he was sweet, kind and caring, he always put others before himself, it's why I fell for him, the only exception to his usual chivalrous attitude is when it came to me." Gwen sighed, "That big lunk took 3 years to respond to my feelings."

Gwen blushed, "After Summer beat him up, Lance changed his attitude around me. He actually ran away for a while, it was cute seeing his blushed and embarrassed expressions."

Gwen looked to Yang, "Your uncle teased Lance to no end about how dense he was, ended up with a black eye, but Qrow said it was worth it."

Yang laughed, Ruby's face lit up and said, "So how did he ask you out?"

Gwen blushed, "That Lance..."

Back with Jaune, "I proposed."

Jaune slapped his forehead, "You know what, all that advice you gave me makes sense now, you were a total moron."

"Hey, Mr. I didn't get my chance with Pyrrha because I was too dense, don't you harp at me," Lance fired back.

"I only had barely a year with Pyrrha, you, on the other hand, Mr. Oblivious for 3 years record holder," Jaune snapped out.

"No, you have 5 Years, 4 of which were spent traveling next to her," Lance shot back.

"What, Ruby didn't like me that early! Did she?" Jaune blushed a bit.

"I'd say about as early as, the dance you two attended, gotta say, it took balls to wear a dress and not be ashamed, only one man I know has been crazy enough to attempt that. Qrow."

"Wait a minute, Qrow wore a dress!?" Jaune asked with wide eyes.

Lance laughed, "It was a skirt, but still."

"Oh, man, please tell me you have pictures of that?" Jaune asked.

"Sure do, comes in handy when you need to embarrass the old Crow." Lance laughed.

"His idea of combat training is getting drunk and letting you handle the problems that arise, not to mention constantly berating me while beating me up, with this, I can finally pull one over on that dusty old crow," Jaune said as he shook his head.

Back with Gwen, "He proposed before we even had our first date."

"Smooth," Yang chided.

"Just like that?" Ruby asked.

"Well, no, I turned him down because he didn't really know how to act around a woman that showed him such an interest, thankfully Yuki talked some sense into him. We went out on a few dozen dates before I finally started to move towards talks of marriage," Gwen answered.

"So did you get married after that?" Pyrrha asked with a look of wonder on her face.

Back with Lance, "Well, she said yes, but a few days later the Knights of Vale came for me."

Jaune frowned, "And?"

"I fought against them with everything I had, but even with my team ready to back me up, it was no use," Lance said before he sighed.

Back with Gwen, "We couldn't stop them from taking Lance, they were from a different era than ourselves, one built around war, we just weren't strong enough to stop them from spiriting away our precious teammate."

Everybody showed a sense of worry for Jaune, if they stopped the fall of Vale, then they would most certainly come to take him away as well, Ruby looked the worst, she clenched her hand over her heart and took a deep breath before saying, "Jaune will have to experience the same thing."

Gwen looked a bit scared herself, she placed her hands together as if she were praying and said, "He'll be fine, just like his father, he has a reason to survive."

Everyone looked to her, "Lance told me that the only reason he survived, is because he never stopped thinking about getting back to me," Gwen announced with a blushed face.

"When he got back, he laid on some cheesy line about us being destined to meet." Gwen's face turned even redder.

Ruby chuckled and said, "I guess Jaune gets his awkwardness from his father."

Gwen smiled, "So how did you two meet, I mean the first time around?"

Ruby blushed, "Well, he sort of threw up on Yang's shoes."

"Motion sickness?" Gwen asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, but, it wasn't until I blew myself up with dust that we really got to know each other." Ruby started poking her index fingers together, "I mean, he was really nice, and..."

"He had a cute butt," Yang chimed in.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted as everyone started to laugh a bit. After the group calmed down, Ruby continued, "As I was saying, our relationship was something developed over time, I think, I started to like him after the school dance, but it wasn't until we traveled together that I fell in..."

"Love!" Yang shouted as she hugged Ruby.

"I'm curious, what made you fall for my baby?" Gwen asked.

Ruby blushed hard and said, "I think it was when I spotted him training during our travels, Jaune showed this spirit and desire to grow stronger, it was his drive to better himself that I first fell for."

Ruby started to poke her fingers again, "Well, it also helped that he was really nice and handsome to boot."

Gwen smiled and hugged her, "You're so cute!"

"What's going on here?" Jaune said making the group jump.

Everyone looked over to see Jaune looking exhausted, his gloves and outfit were torn because of the constant explosions he put himself through, "What happened to you?" Sun asked with a funny expression on his face.

"Laugh it up monkey boy," Jaune said as he slapped him in the back of the head.

"Really, what were you two up two?" Gwen asked with a brow raised.

Jaune smiled and said, "Just some light training."

Lance patted his shoulder and said, "He still has a lot to learn."

Gwen smiled and gave them both a nod of approval, the two let out a chuckle before Jaune took a seat and said, "Well, I guess we have a lot to discuss."

Everyone looked at him as he started to explain, "I know this is weird, and me being a 24 year old in my 17-year-old body probably isn't helping either, but I want you to know, that you are all my best friends, and I would never want to hurt you, it tore me up keeping this information from you." Jaune began explaining his circumstances to everyone, and after he finished telling his story of how Vale fell in a single day, Jaune's eyes drifted to Pyrrha, "So miss indestructible, I hope you've learned a valuable lesson from all of this."

Pyrrha looked down, ashamed of herself as Jaune criticized her, "I know I wasn't any help, but if you hadn't shooed me off, who knows, maybe I would have unlocked my Semblance that day instead of the day Weiss almost lost her life."

Jaune walked over and gave her a hug, "So don't you do that again, you're not invincible Pyrrha, you're human just like the rest of us."

Tears started to fall from her cheeks, it didn't take long for everyone to join Jaune in the hug, after a while Pyrrha gave out a meek response, "Thank you. Thank you, everyone."

After everyone pulled back, Jaune smiled and said, "We're a team, we have to act like it, remember who told me that?"

Pyrrha nodded her head and wiped the tears from her eyes, "I promise, no more solo acts."

Jaune sat back down and continued his story, he told them what happened after the events in his comics and what they were up against; when he got to Penny's father, Jaune looked at Ren and said, "Believe it or not, your Semblance is the key to creating a barrier against the Grimm, a safe haven, a Sanctuary for humans and Faunus alike."

Ren's ears perked up, "Was that the device we used over Kuroyuri?"